


Nightmare After Christmas

by ChibisUnleashed



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, What A Twist!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibisUnleashed/pseuds/ChibisUnleashed
Summary: For RotG Secret Santa 2020 Prompt #19: (No ship) Pitch, North, and those horror movies where Santa is the villain.When Nicholas St. North witnesses Pitch Black terrorizing children, what else is he supposed to do?Notchase him?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Nightmare After Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spookfrost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookfrost/gifts).



‘Twas the night after Christmas 

When all through the house 

Not a creature was stirring 

Not even a-

Pitch Black slithered between houses on a deserted block. Christmas lights twinkled merrily in every yard with trees still happily lighting up every living room he could see through the windows. Boxing day wasn’t celebrated here, but still, the vast majority of American families wouldn’t be taking down these decorations for a little while, yet. 

Christmas was in the air even if Christmas had been over for hours. 

Pitch was not bothering to be subtle. He popped street lights, darkened windows, and dimmed stars all up and down the road in this quiet Burgess neighborhood. If he was lucky, someone might notice, and then belief would be  _ his.  _

-o-

North liked to enjoy the night following Christmas, when all of his rushing and organizing and implementing paid off. The children spent a whole day filled with joy and wonder and North could  _ feel  _ it as he sailed high over their heads, drifting peacefully in Sandy’s dreams of playing and giving and doing it all over again. 

But something was disturbing the total tranquility of this night. North could feel that, too. The moon’s light guided him over mountains and fields and lakes to a suburban town full of cheer and snow and a creeping  _ darkness.  _

There was no question who to blame. North directed his reindeer down into the streets and kept a watchful eye for the source of the shadows. He heard a bulb shatter several houses over and raced to catch up, where he witnessed a silhouette he could never forget sliding sluggishly over a wall underneath a child’s bedroom window. 

Oh no. Not tonight! North pulled the reins to stop the sleigh and leapt out into the snow. He raced between the buildings just in time to see Pitch’s shadow slide silently under the back door. 

After all of these years, North was a master lock pick, but even he took a minute (A minute too long) to open the backdoor without any signs of having broken in. The door was quiet as it swung open wide enough for North to slip through, but the floor was not as obliging, making soft, hollow sounds with every other footfall. A clock ticked away over the mantle, the refrigerator hummed in the kitchen, but there was nothing to indicate just where Pitch had gone.

Until shifting light out of the corner of his eye drew North into the hall. Was that the swish of a horse’s tail on the bottom step of the stairs? Did he hear the soft sound of falling sand? Or was North imagining things?

Liquid eyes on the top step erased the thoughts from North’s mind. Who cared if the Nightmares were here? Pitch definitely was and the children were in danger! North moved swiftly up the steps, as light on his feet as he had ever been, and watched the shadows dance over the walls, the floors, the ceiling. He pulled his swords, ever ready for the attack he knew would come. 

A cheshire grin lit on the ceiling above and North leapt forward with one long swipe through the shadows. They split in the wake of his blade and slithered away, Pitch’s mocking laughter and bright white smile leading the darkness down the hall for North to chase. They gathered above a frail wood door covered in pieces of paper and countless stickers, two scribbled names in crayon taped to the middle.  _ The children.  _

Pitch’s teeth glowed against the darkness as his shadows crept over the drawings and North lunged again. His sword pierced the wood but Pitch vanished, leaking between the door and the wall on all four sides to escape into the children’s room. North’s heart sped up in the seconds between pulling his sword out and kicking down the door. Precious time when he was too far behind. Pitch was already in their bedroom, corrupting their dreams, destroying their innocence and North still had to get through  _ the door.  _

North crashed into the room with a warrior’s cry that was entirely drowned out by the frightened screams of children, except Pitch was nowhere to be seen. It took North too long to realize it was  _ his  _ cry,  _ his  _ swords,  _ his  _ fierce look of righteous fury that the children were crying and cowering away from and by then it was too late. 

He stood up out of his fighting stance, hid his swords behind his back, and smiled apologetically, but big sister was already running away to little brother’s bed to comfort and shield and scream for mom. 

Which was precisely when North noticed the gleeful eyes on the windowsill as they slipped out of the room. With nowhere else to run and the sound of pounding footsteps on the floorboards at his back, North decided to follow and jumped through the window out into the fresh and frozen night, leaving the sounds of sobbing children and worried parents behind. 

North knew he’d been had when Pitch wasn’t hard to find  _ or  _ catch up to. His laughter gave his position away clear as day and North stomped through the snow to meet him. “Pitch! What game are you playing?”

“The same one I always am!” Pitch crowed, true delight in his eyes. “Of spreading fear and beating  _ you!”  _

North gripped the hilts of his swords and readied his stance again. “What did you do to the kids?”

“Not a thing!” Pitch spread his hands out before him and smiled in satisfaction. “The better question is what did  _ you  _ do to the kids? You know, this is how horror movies start.”

North’s usually merry cheeks flushed. He could feel the heat of shame, and he let it fuel his anger. Pitch tricked him! “Curse you, Pitch!”

“Careful, North,” Pitch wagged a long finger at him and stepped backward until he was disappearing into the shadows again. “There are  _ children  _ watching.”

North started and looked around, checking the windows for watching eyes. If there had been any, they weren’t there now, and when North turned back to glare at Pitch… he was gone. 

_ Schnittke! _


End file.
